YBTS - 3

The person who just walked in was none other than the eldest daughter, Su Luoyun, who had been sent back to the family’s old home.

Su Hongmeng’s fingers were almost touching her eyes. She remained composed, her gaze fixed forward, and she smiled slightly, “Father is joking. You had an experienced physician examine me, and he said that my meridians were blocked due to a head injury, so I would likely never see again.”

“Big Sister, you walked in just now as if the ground was perfectly flat. You didn’t look blind at all...” The youngest, Su Jincheng, couldn’t help but exclaim.

Before he could finish, Su Guiyan, who was next to him, gave him a hard shove. “Don’t you dare call my sister blind!”

But before he could finish his protest, Su Luoyun had already turned, navigated around a chair, and walked over to Su Guiyan. She smiled and caressed his head, “Third Brother is right. If I can’t see, what else would I be but blind? You’ve grown so tall, why are you still shouting at Third Brother like a child? Come, let Big Sister feel if you’ve gotten fat.”

Admitting the fact of her blindness so casually and calmly was nothing like the Su family’s impression of the eldest young lady whose temper had soured after losing her sight.

The past two years seemed to have matured this unfortunate girl considerably.

At this point, Ding Shi began to scold Jincheng gently but firmly, telling him not to be disrespectful to his eldest sister.

Su Luoyun finished her inspection of her brother’s thin face with a hint of dissatisfaction and then turned to stand beside Su Hongmeng. Her eyes gazed into the distance as she respectfully asked, “Father, are you tired from your journey? I brought some bitter tea from the mountain. It has a uniquely refreshing taste when paired with goji berries and candied dates.”

Once the tea was brewed, the family sat together. However, when they saw Su Luoyun personally pour the water and steep the tea, her movements were fluid and seamless, showing no hesitation.

Su Hongmeng asked, “Your eyes aren’t better, but I see you’re... very capable now!” If Su Luoyun was still blind, why had she moved and acted with such composure just now? It was baffling.

Luoyun smiled faintly, “I’ve lived in this old house for two years, so I’m naturally familiar with it. My daily movements are no trouble, but in an unfamiliar place, I would still have to feel my way forward. As for brewing tea, it’s even simpler. The tea tray has patterns on it, and the maid always places the teacups in a fixed position, which makes it easy for me to pick them up.”

Su Hongmeng nodded in resignation. In any case, his eldest daughter seemed to have accepted the fact of her eye condition and had become much more reasonable. As a father, he finally felt some relief.

Looking at his daughter now, the sigh in Su Hongmeng’s heart grew heavier. If Luoyun hadn’t lost her sight, her outstanding looks could have even earned her a place in a prince’s household!

Thus, the tense father-daughter reunion that had been imagined turned out to be as pleasant as a spring breeze, filled with an air of harmony and affection.

Su Luoyun wasn’t just this way with her father; she also conducted herself with the decorum of an elder sister toward her stepmother and younger siblings, showing none of the defiant temper she had two years ago.

Su Hongmeng had come prepared for a confrontation, but he didn’t expect that his eldest daughter had cultivated such a calm and refined demeanor in the past two years, making her even more composed and polite than before she went blind. He stroked his beard in satisfaction, feeling that his official career was going smoothly, and even his family matters had become much more manageable.

Ding Pei also had a smile on her face, but she was inwardly bewildered. It was plausible that Su Luoyun, having lived in the old house for so long, had memorized the layout.

However, because the thick felt had been laid out, the pebbles that served as markers were rendered useless. The furniture had also been moved, and there was even a basin of water by the door that one could easily trip over. Was Su Luoyun really blind? Why did she walk so smoothly and calmly, as if on level ground?

In fact, she wasn’t the only one with this doubt; even her biological brother, Guiyan, was puzzled.

Especially after dinner, as they walked in the old house’s courtyard, Su Luoyun’s steps were even more graceful and light, guided by the pebbles underfoot. As she passed the fish pond and flowerbeds, she even pointed and smiled, telling her father about the subtle changes in the old house.

If they hadn’t known beforehand, who would have thought that this articulate woman was blind?

Once the family had retired to their rooms to rest, Guiyan finally had a moment alone with his sister. He immediately and eagerly asked Luoyun if her eyes had gotten better.

Luoyun gave a faint, wry smile. “Must a blind person appear hesitant and fumbling in front of others to seem legitimate? While the layout of the front hall changed, Tian Mama took a look at the alterations with a maid and then came back to tell me. Didn’t you notice that Xiangcao, the maid behind me, would occasionally clear her throat? If there was an obstacle in front of me, she would give me a reminder. This way, she acts as my other pair of eyes.”

Hearing her explanation, Su Guiyan was extremely disappointed. He looked at his sister, his heart a mix of emotions.

But Su Luoyun said calmly, “When Mother named me, she probably foresaw my future. Being named Luoyun, or ‘Fallen Cloud,’ the experience of falling from the sky is certainly not pleasant. However, falling to the dust can also be a kind of luck. Although I am blind, in the two years of solitude in the countryside, I have come to understand many things...”

Su Guiyan frowned and asked, “What did you come to understand, Sister? Is it about... Su Caijian?”

The accident that happened to his sister occurred in Su Caijian’s courtyard. Ten years ago, the Su and Lu family elders had arranged a marriage, but they hadn’t specified which Su family daughter would marry into the Lu family.

Mr. Lu was fond of his sister, but because Madam Lu was close friends with Ding Shi, she preferred the younger sister, Su Caijian.

The mother couldn’t argue with her son, so they eventually settled on his sister. Su Caijian, who was infatuated with Lu Shi, cried and made a scene with his sister after finding out. Then the accident happened.

Because it happened in the second young lady’s courtyard, no one except the people inside her room saw what happened.

Later, everyone heard from the maid, Xique, who served the second young lady, that the eldest young lady had lost her footing and hit her head on a stone pillar by the path. She was unconscious for two days with a head injury, and when she woke up, she had lost her sight.

Although Su Luoyun was certain that Su Caijian had pushed her, Su Caijian cried and shed tears, saying nothing in rebuttal, much like Ding Shi’s fragile, weeping willow style.

Their father was already biased toward Ding Shi’s children. With the testimonies of the surrounding witnesses all claiming that Su Luoyun had fallen and misremembered the events, Su Hongmeng was happy to play peacemaker. He only punished Su Caijian by making her kneel in the Buddha hall for one day and forbade anyone from mentioning the matter again.

After all, they were both his daughters. One was blind, and that couldn’t be changed, so he couldn’t possibly let the other one bear the reputation of harming her sister and ruining her name, could he?

Su Caijian was a child who wouldn’t even dare to step on a bug on a normal day, so how could she have intentionally harmed her sister? It was an accident, and now that it had happened, there was nothing anyone could do.

But Lu Shi refused to change his fiancée and caused a ruckus. A year ago, Madam Lu finally came up with a compromise: he would marry the younger sister, Su Caijian, first, and then after some time, Su Luoyun would also be brought into the household. This way, the disabled and unmarriageable Su Luoyun would also have a place to go.

In short, after many twists and turns, the Lu family finally became related to the Su family and the engagement was set.

To everyone’s surprise, Su Luoyun, who was at the old family home, refused to follow the elders’ arrangement. She burned the letters she had previously received from Mr. Lu into ashes and had them sent back to Lu Shi in a wooden box.

She made it clear that she and Mr. Lu had no further relationship and that in the future, if they met, she would only address him as “brother-in-law.” If he ever brought up the topic of the sisters marrying the same person again, she would cut off her hair and become a nun.

After that, no one mentioned the matter again, and the second young lady, Caijian, happily prepared her dowry and bedding, waiting to marry into the Lu family.

No matter what others said, Su Guiyan was convinced that his half-sister had harmed his sister. When he heard Luoyun say she had “come to understand,” he immediately thought of the accident.

But Su Luoyun remained composed, “Don’t mention that matter again. Everyone said I tripped on my own. If I keep harping on it, it will look like I’m trying to frame my younger sister... By the way, have you been doing as I told you for the past two years?”

Guiyan immediately nodded, “Sister, you told me to hide my talents, so every time the tutor checked my homework, I would deliberately leave some mistakes. When memorizing poems and commentaries, I would also be two days slower than Jincheng and Jinguan... The tutor thinks I’m lazy and playful. Father doesn’t like me this way and always scolds me. Sometimes I really don’t want to do this, but then I remember your instructions and hold myself back.”

Hearing this, Luoyun lovingly stroked her brother’s face again, “You are stronger than I was. If I could have been as patient as you when I was your age, it would have been so much better. Remember, in the future, don’t compete with those two brothers. I don’t have much power right now to protect you. By appearing a little foolish, you’ll be more comfortable in this house...”

Su Guiyan was actually much faster at memorizing his lessons than the Jincheng brothers. Sometimes, watching his two younger brothers deliberately show off their cleverness was quite amusing.

But he still didn’t understand his sister’s reasoning and had his doubts. “Sister, are you saying that my stepmother doesn’t want me to be better than my two brothers?”

Su Luoyun stroked her brother’s cheek and said gently, “The Su family is flourishing now. The spice business alone brings in a steady stream of money. Who will inherit this business will certainly be a matter of great concern. When Father sent me back to the old house, you, as the eldest son, had no close relatives to support you. If you appear too clever, I’m afraid your good fortune will be too shallow.”

What outsiders might not know was that although Su Caijian was said to be one year younger than Su Guiyan, she was actually born a year earlier, making her seventeen this year.

Ding Shi had met Su Hongmeng while he was doing business in Chengdu, and she became pregnant with Caijian while Hu Shi was still alive.

Their father did not want Ding Shi’s illegitimate daughter to have the name of a concubine’s child, so he kept her hidden and off the family genealogy. It wasn’t until a year after his mother’s death that Su Caijian was recorded in the family genealogy.

With the proper title of a legitimate daughter born to a second wife, Su Caijian finally became a rightful, official daughter of the Su family.

Luoyun used to only think that this younger sister grew faster and spoke more articulately than children her age, and she didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until she was twelve that she learned the hidden truth.

It was then that she finally understood her mother’s depression and sadness before her death. This stepmother, who always greeted people with a gentle smile, was not as simple as she seemed!

It was from that point on that she began to clash with her stepmother and became increasingly intolerable to Ding Shi.

She didn’t want to explain these matters in depth to her brother. He was still young. If he were to clash with Ding Shi as she had, he, as a young man who couldn’t yet establish himself independently, would be the one who would suffer.